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Floridians love water, but getting them to conserve it can be tough, survey shows

Water conservation is essential to maintain the state’s water supply, but actually getting Floridians to conserve is tough.

They’ll gladly wait to run those laundry machines. They’ll turn off the faucet when brushing their teeth. Just don’t ask them to take shorter showers.

Most Florida residents recognize water is a vital issue to the state, but left to their own devices, they’ll mostly conserve water when it’s convenient, according to a University of Florida survey of about 500 residents released Monday.

Florida constantly battles water issues, and this year will be no exception. Cities across the state are trying to figure out how to draw enough water to keep up with their growing populations.

In December, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Florida was growing faster than New York. Demographers predicted Florida would soon become the third most populated state in the country.

Central Florida is figuring out a plan to manage its growth over the next 20 years, which could mean taking water from nearby lakes and rivers. The usual source — the Floridan aquifer — is too strained for regions to take any more water from it.

On top of that, the Panhandle is dealing with the decline of oyster beds in Apalachicola due to a lack of fresh water, and Florida is suing Georgia for allegedly taking more than its fair share of water from the region.

Conservation, experts say, is one way to delay a serious drain on Florida’s water resources.

Floridians want to help out and protect the environment, the study suggests.

But they simply don’t want dry, brown lawns, and they don’t want buzzers bugging them to get out of the shower.

The study showed 90 percent of respondents would wait to load the washing machine until it’s full, 54 percent would install water-saving shower heads, 42 percent would limit watering the lawn if it meant the grass would die and 29 percent would use a shower timer.

Sixty-nine percent said they would spend 10 percent more on their water bills to protect the state’s future water supply.

“It is an issue that Floridians are aware of and feel is important because quite a few of the respondents are willing to use water conservation,” said Alexa Lamm, a University of Florida assistant professor who led the survey for the university’s Center for Public Issues Education. “But when it comes to personal impacts, they are more reserved in being willing to conserve water.”

Michael Dukes, director of UF/IFAS’ Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology, said education is key to get residents to cut their water consumption.

“It’s hard to explain to them that 20 years from now that we’re going to be in a serious problem area,” he said, “when they’ve been dealing with flooding for the past year.”

Even simple steps like turning off your sprinklers when it’s raining helps immensely, he said. He recommended purchasing sprinkler systems that can tell when it’s raining and shut off automatically until conditions dry up.

Dukes said using reclaimed water, which is water that’s been treated but isn’t safe to drink, to water lawns, golf courses and other landscapes also is a good conservation practice.

One method that seemed to push residents toward conservation was government mandates, Lamm said.

Respondents in the study said when they felt the government was regulating how much water they could use, they conserved water more. The more free they felt to regulate their own water conservation, they less they did so.

“The pressure, the threat of being fined, it works,” Lamm said.

Meredith Rutland: (904) 359-4161

Floridians love water, but getting them to conserve it can be tough, survey shows- By